Depreciation (Criminal AU) (WayV x Reader)

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Chapter warnings: none

Word count: 1198

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"We're meeting in the conference room in twenty minutes." Kun instructed as they walked in the door. "Everybody get changed and maybe grab something to eat. We've won a great victory, but there's a lot to discuss. For now, though, just be proud. I'll see you in a few minutes." WinWin and YangYang started towards their rooms together, Ten following Kun in whatever direction he was going. Xiaojun was obviously still hospitalized, and she didn't care to know what Hendery was going to go do. She awkwardly followed Lucas into the elevator as he hit the floor to the basement. Coughing, he looked over at her.

"So, uh... how are you?"

"You jerk!" She yelled, hitting him lightly on the arm. "How could you not tell us you were alive?"

"I'm sorry!" He said, putting his hands up defensively. "It's just that-"

"No excuses! I was worried sick about you! Everyone kept saying you were dead, I couldn't even believe it! I knew you wouldn't leave us like that, you couldn't! But to do that to everyone else, I..." As she chewed him out, she noticed a big, dumb smile forming across his face. She trailed off, looking at him, confused.

"You were worried about me?" Pushing him again, she felt her face flushed, hoping he couldn't see it.

"Shut up! You know what I meant!" He started laughing, shoving her back.

"Yeah, you meant you were worried about me!" She couldn't help but laugh at how happy he was as the elevator doors opened, allowing them to step off into- a broom closet.

"Oh." She said, catching her breath. "I, uh, I forgot about that. Kun had us board up the basement for the search warrant."

"Huh." He made a noise passively. "So, uh... now what?"

"I brought some of your stuff up to my room, we could just go there." He agreed as they re-boarded the elevator, riding up to the bedrooms. No one was in the halls, so there was no strangeness as he walked in, noting his boxes almost immediately. He knelt down, digging through to grab a change of clothes.

"So... that was some trial." He said as he pulled out a shirt, continuing to rummage for something else.

"Some trial?" She asked incredulously. "You just showed up out of nowhere! I mean, how did you even survive?" He tilted his head.

"Survive? It was just some cuts."

"You didn't see the stab wounds?" She asked. She supposed it had happened while he was asleep, but still, stabbed through the heart? It was impossible. Confused, he pulled off his shirt, revealing the skin beneath. While he was still just as beautiful as he had been on stage prior to his injury, he was now covered in sickly familiar gashes and stitches. Most of them had been redone by the hospital, so they were cleaner, but it still wasn't a pleasant sight. Walking forward, she brushed the tip of her singer over a short, sealed hole on the left side of his body. Her left, meaning... his right.

"He..." She breathed out in relief. "He got the wrong side." Lucas looked down at himself awkwardly, quickly moving to put the other shirt on. He was clearly self-conscious in regards to the scars. He thought they were ugly, and he didn't want her to have to look at them.

"So I know you tried to fill me in mid-trial," He joked, "But what was the story we were going for?"

"Oh, the story was that we started dating and my crazy ex-boyfriend came to try and kill you, and all those other people, and-"

"Other people?" She had forgotten, he hadn't been aware of over half of the proceedings. Laughing breathily, she decided to switch gears.

"You know what? Kun will fill us in at the briefing, no sense wearing ourselves out now." She also didn't want to relive Hendery's attempt on her life. "There's still one thing I can't figure out, though."

"Hmm? What's that?" He asked as he pulled out a pair of jeans from the box.

"How did you manage to figure it out?" He went silent for a moment, before looking over.

"What do you mean, figure it out?"

"You know, the story. That whole thing kind of hinged around us pretending to be dating. I was almost positive that once she started yelling at you, all do you love her and all that agressiveness, that you would freak out and say no. I mean, you had no reason to know what was going on, you literally saved the case and you didn't even know it!"

"O-oh." He said, passively.

"So?"

"So what?" Exasperated, she sighed.

"How did you figure it out, silly, it was like a miracle!"

"I, uh..." He coughed, clearing his throat and laughing awkwardly. His eyes met the ground, hands tight around the fabric he was holding. "I panicked and just, uh... told the truth?" Her breath hitched. Told the truth? What was he saying? That was ridiculous, there was no way.

"You... you love me?" He tried to laugh again, although it was getting more and more forced.

"I said that, didn't I..." Standing up uncomfortably straight. "Well, anyway, who cares? We made it through the trial, we're free men! All thanks to you! We should definitely-"

"Did you mean it?" She asked as he tried to walk by her, blocking his path. "Do you love me?" He was finally forced to meet her expectant eyes, looking at him with a terrifying amount of intent and demanding.

"I..." He breathed through his nose. "I mean what I said. More than anything else in the world." She saw her eyes dart around, trying to process, so he tried to recover it in his strange, humorous way. "I was gonna tell you! I swear! I just didn't get the chance, and I know it's stupid, and honestly it's my bad for even starting anything in the first place, and I know that-"

"I love you, too." She cut him off, surprising herself. He fell silent as she said this, looking at her eyes incredulously. Without another word, he leaned forward and kissed her, holding her tightly as she reciprocated. She had been kidnapped, dragged here, forced through hell and back, and she couldn't feel any safer than where she was in that moment. Stuck in her blue dress, dirtied by the trial and its past, and him in his dress pants and T-Shirt, it couldn't have been more perfect in her mind.

Pulling away slowly, Lucas let his hands fall and his eyes slowly open. She watched as that trademark, stupid smile appeared on his face again, lighting up the room with a little bit more happiness.

"We should go to the conference room." He said finally, unable to force the corners of his lips down.

"Yeah." She agreed as she left the room, looking back to watch him walk into the bathroom, presumably to change his pants. As she walked to the meeting place, even in all of her discomfort, she felt a little tiny spring in each of her steps.